Why Does This Always Happen to Me?
by SuperAwesomeDia
Summary: June 3rd, 1939. That was the date Romano was sent to bring Albania to Italy to work for him. But will his heart lead him to be something more than just her new boss? Rated T for Romano's language and some romantic scenes. OC pairing, RomanoxAlbania.
1. Chapter 1

_*****It's here! Mwahaha! :D  
><strong>_**_If you are confused, this is the sequel to "I Hate This Stupid Love!". Please read that first! ^w^  
>Please do enjoy!<br>I do not own Hetalia. Finland... ;( ***  
><em>**

_**June 3, 1939, The Shores of The Port of Durrës**_, _**Albania**_

"From now on, the Albanian foreign ministry shall be merged into the Italian foreign ministry. Albanian Foreign Minister, Xhemil Dino, shall be given the rank of an Italian ambassador. Albanian foreign policy shall be handled by Rome. Benito Mussolini shall have direct control over the country of Albania to provide a response to Germany's annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia. The Albanian armed forces shall be subsumed in the Italian military. Italian advisors shall be placed inside all levels of the Albanian administration.

"The Albanian crown is now officially in personal union with the Italian crown!"

Aleksandër turned to Albania. "Did I do it right?"

Albania gave a weak smile. "You did just fine, Aleks."

The words that had been read by Aleks almost seemed nice. Stuff about crowns and such.

But what was really going to happen? Albania would be living in Romano's house. Yes, Albania would be spending her time working for Romano. She would be a servant to him; he was her new boss now.

I'll back this story up just a tad.

It had been 2 months since Albania had seen Romano. He did take over her country, but he went to house to "prepare" for her coming over. For 2 months. Don't ask me why.

Albania spent most of her time waiting. She tried to decide what to wear, what to say, how to act, but gave up after a month. She hoped she wouldn't spend the rest of her life being a "proper lady". That would suck.

But now it was 2 months later. Romano had come on his ship, _Regia Nave Il Pomodoro,_ to come get Albania.

Albania stood on the docks in a sharp-looking pencil skirt, a crisp white blouse, a snazzy black jacket, a white hat with a large brim and a black bow, black high heels, white elbow-length gloves, a small black handbag and a small black suitcase. She tugged at the collar of her blouse, feeling rather warm. She straightened up as Romano's ship pulled into the dock, men scrambling to tie the ship down.

Romano took a deep breath, tugging at the collar of his nice, new suit. It was black, with a white shirt underneath and a silk tie. He had fancy black dress shoes on as well.

He also had a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

He stepped off of the ship and onto the dock. He looked around, rather confused. "Albania?"

Romano sighed. "Damnit, she said she'd wait for me here!"

"I _am _here, you _kopil!_" Albania smacked him with her purse.

"Ow! E-excuse me, I'm looking for a woman who I'm supposed to pick up-"

Albania gave him another strike with her purse.

"H-hey! Stop that! I – oh, oh my God! Albania!" Romano almost fell over when he saw Albania wearing a fancy suit. "Albania, what the hell happened?"

Albania's face turned red. "I just wanted to look nice, that's all!"

"Y-you wanted to look nice?" Romano asked.

"Yes!" Albania said. "I'm going to your house to stay, so I thought I might as well look nice while going there. Although this outfit bugs the hell out of me."

"Y-you mean you dressed up…f-for me?" Romano felt a small blush rise to his cheeks.

"I didn't say I dressed up for _you, _now did I?" Albania said, crossing her arms.

Romano's face turned a deep scarlet. "Well, the way you said you were coming to my house I just thought-"

"Well, everything's about _you, _now isn't it?" Albania said, anger rising in her voice.

"It was just the way you said it!" Romano argued.

"That I was coming to your house to be your little _slave? _I don't think so, _Italiano!_"

"No! I just-I didn't know if you were dressing up for _me, _but I-"

"Oh, so now you were _expecting _me 'dress up' for you?"

"I didn't _expect _you to, dammit! And you're not 'dressing up' – you look beautiful!"

"Oh, so now you – what?"

"I said you look beautiful!" Romano blurted, shoving the flowers towards Albania.

"Flowers? Romano-"

"God, I love you! I mean, you're strong and you're powerful and you're amazing," Romano started to blabber, "and you're pretty and you're sarcastic and you're nice – well, sometimes, – and you're smart and you've been hurt and I want to help you but you're so resistant and self-protective and I just want to try and help but I guess I'm not really in a position to because I'm going to bring you home because I'm you're new boss and _goddamnit I love you!_" Romano quickly closed the gap between their lips.

"Mm…" Romano gave a pleasant sigh as he grabbed Albania by her waist, letting his lips passionately kiss hers.

Just then, someone coughed. Of course.

"General Karpusi?" Aleks asked, making the man next to him named Jozef cringe.

"I think you caught them at an inconvenient moment…" Jozef said.

"Nah, they'll be fine," Aleks replied.

"What do you want?" Romano said, turning to the two men who had 'interrupted' him.

"W-we just wanted to tell you that the ship is ready to go back to Italy, and we have a speech prepared!"

"Already?" Romano blinked. "Damn. That was fast."

"It's not exactly as if you've been here for 2 minutes…" Aleks trailed off.

"Shh! Shut up!" Jozef said. "General Karpusi and her new boyfriend don't like it when they're-"

"I never said he was my boyfriend!"

"I never said she was my girlfriend!"

Albania and Romano blurted at the same time.

"You could've fooled me," Aleks smiled.

"Sh-shut up!" Jozef said.

Albania cleared her throat, a small blush on her face. "I think we should go now, Romano."

"R-right," Romano said. "I heard there's a speech."

"The Albanian crown is now officially in personal union with the Italian crown!"

Aleksandër turned to Albania. "Did I do it right?"

Albania gave a weak smile. "You did just fine, Aleks."

The words that had been read by Aleks almost seemed nice. Stuff about crowns and such.

But what was really going to happen? Albania would be living in Romano's house. Yes, Albania would be spending her time working for Romano. She would be a servant to him; he was her new boss now.

Ah, here's where we catch up.

Albania gave Aleks a hug. "I'll miss you, Aleksandër."

"I'll miss you too, General."

"Oh, please. Call me Ardiana."

Albania gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Bye, Aleks."

"Bye, Ardiana."

Jozef coughed. "Ahem, I think you're missing something-"

Albania gave him a small kiss on the cheek as well. "Bye, Jozef."

Jozef blushed. "Well, you didn't have to go _that _far, but if you insist-"

"_Goodbye_, Jozef."

"Right. Bye, General."

Albania looked for her brother, but found him sleeping on a park bench.

That was _so _very Herucles.

She gave him a small kiss on his forehead. "αντίο αδελφός."

Romano climbed up the ramp to the ship. "Come on now, if you're gonna be giving out free kisses-"

"Let's go, Romano." Albania climbed onto the ship.

They all waved happy (and sad) goodbyes to each other as the ship pulled away.

This was going to be interesting.

_*****Dundundun! What will happen next? Stay tuned! :D  
>RGaffney has a sequel to "Tell Me This is a Dream", called "Tell Me This is a Lie"! Go read it!<br>Until then, I'll see you in the next chapter! ^.~ *****_


	2. Chapter 2

_*****So, we meet again, young Padawan.**_

_**Wait, what?**_

_**Hi there! This is the second chapter! Hooray! If you have been reading RGaffney's fics (*coughcough*Spain's chapter in Tell Me This Is a Dream*coughcough*) then you will get the Aurora reference. If not…good luck.  
><strong>_

_**I take no responsibility for Aurora's actions.  
>No, hold on a minute.<br>I do not own Aurora, as she is RGaffney's character. However, I did get permission from RGaffney to use her in my story.  
><strong>_

_**I also do not own Hetalia. I have moved on from Finland to ask a person in a higher position.  
>I think I'll ask Rome.<br>Enjoy!*****_

Albania stood on Romano's ship, _Regia Nave Il Pomodoro, _waiting to get to Romano's home.

Even though the sea waves were cooling, she felt a little warm in the June weather. She pulled at the collar of her blouse.

"Albania, you ok?" Romano asked, noticing Albania's sudden discomfort.

"I-I'm fine," she stuttered. "Just a little warm, t-that's all."

"Is she ok?" One man on the ship asked, apparently part of Romano's crew.

"She said she's fine, Joey," Romano said, "but I'm not sure…"

"I'm fine! Really!" Albania blurted. "I just-"

That, unfortunately, was when she passed out.

"Nn…" Albania's eyes fluttered open.

To find herself in a house.

On a bed.

With Romano sitting next to her.

Wait, what?

"Gah!" Albania sat up, then slowly laid back down from the sharp pain in her head. "Ow. What the hell happened?"

"Well, you had a nasty fall on the ship because you passed out from the heat, and you hit your head on the deck, and you were still pretty unconscious by the time we got home – to _my _house – and I, being as smart as I am, brought you up to my room to rest and wrapped your head up in a bandage."

"_Romano__! __Vuelva a colocar el__hielo en la cabeza__! __Y__su trabajo__venda__una mierda!"_ A woman appeared in the doorway. She was stout, with tan skin, black hair and brown eyes. She rolled up a newspaper and swiftly hit Romano in the head with it. _"__Es mejor__ser__un buen cuidado de__ella!"_

"_Ah! Sí, sí__, Aurora, estoy __cuidando bien__de ella!__Por favor,__no me pegues__!" _Romano said, trying to shield himself with his hands.

"_Es mejor__cuidar bien de__ella!"_ She hit him again with the newspaper.

"_Sí, sí__! __¡Muy bien!__Yo me ocuparé__de ella!"_

"_¡Bien!"_ She gave him another smack.

The woman turned to Albania. The woman looked Albania up and down. "_¿Está__teniendo__buen cuidado de usted__?"_ The woman said.

However, Albania didn't speak Spanish.

"Uhm…" Albania said.

"_¿Y bien?__Es el tomate__cuidando bien__de ti?"_

"I…I no speak the _Espa__ña!_"

"_¡Por favor!__Ella__no habla español__!" _Romano said._ "__Ella__albanés__!"_

"Ah, _si!_" Albania said. "_Albanés__!" _

"_Aurora!_" A voice shouted down the hall.

"_Ah, España!"_ The woman smiled.

A brown-haired man stepped in the doorway. His skin was a shade of brown-tan and his eyes were the color of shining emeralds.

"Tell Aurora to leave Albania alone! She's fine!" Romano said to the brown-haired man.

The man laughed. "_Aurora,__esta mujer__no habla español__. __Ella es__novia__de Romano__. __Sabiendo__Romano__, la va a __tratar bien__."_

"_Ah, si, __Espa__ña__!" _The woman laughed. She turned to Romano. _"__Trate a su__novia__así__, mi __poco de tomate__!"_

Romano's ears turned pink. _"S-si, Aurora. Gracias."_

The woman smiled and walked out of the room.

"…What on _earth _was that?" Albania asked, turning to the brown-haired man. "And who the hell are you?"

The man laughed. "She has quite a mouth on her for being a little girl," he said, turning to Romano. "Is this the beautiful woman with a hot temper you were talking about?"

"Shut your face, you _kopil!_" Albania shouted. "Who are you to judge who I am?"

"Yep, I think she's the woman you were talking about." The man laughed again. "Hot temper and everything."

Albania's face grew hot. "I am not a _lady. _I am a _General. _I could kick your ass from here to the moon if I wanted to!" she said. "Next time, think about who you call a 'little girl'.

"Aww~!" The man smiled like an idiot. "She's just like you when you were little, Lovi~!"

"Wipe that stupid smile off your face, Spain!" Romano said, standing up.

Spain grabbed Romano's shoulders and turned him towards Albania. "This poor lovesick man is crushing on you _soooo _bad!" Spain laughed. "He's just _so _in lovewith you, woman!"

Romano's face turned a bright red. "Oh, come on, Spain, why did you have to say that?"

Spain giggled. "Because it's true, Lovi~" Spain said in a sing-song voice.

Albania blushed. "I-I kinda knew that already…"

Spain gasped. "Whaaaat? Lovi told me he didn't tell you yet!"

"I didn't want to tell you I told her for _exactly _this reason!" Romano yelled.

"What reason, Lovi?" Spain said innocently.

"I knew you'd be all, 'Oh, my little tomato has a _girlfriend! _Oh, isn't that so _sweet?_' and just thinking about you saying that makes me all barfy, and I knew you'd want us to go on some long, romantic beach walks or a sappy I'll-stare-into-your-eyes-it-must-be-true-love stroll in the tomato fields but _guess what? You _don't control my love life!" Romano spat.

Spain frowned. "Oh. Ok then." Spain looked down. "No 'I'll-stare-into-your-eyes-it-must-be-true-love' strolls?"

"No." Romano said. "W-well, not unless _I _say so."

Albania cleared her throat with a small "ahem".

"Or unless Albania says so."

Spain pouted. "Alright then."

"Thank you," Romano huffed. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to-"

Spain picked up Romano, giving him a rather tight bear hug. "Waaaaah~! I am so proud, my little tomato~!" Spain smiled from ear to ear. "Ooh~!"

"Gah! Let me go, you stupid bastard!" Romano tried to kick and punch his way out of the Spaniard's grip.

"My little Lovi's all grown up~!"

After Spain had left the room, Romano had gone down to the kitchen to get Albania some lunch. Albania sighed and sat up. She hadn't even taken a good look at Romano's house yet, as Romano told her she couldn't leave her bed. Her head felt much better, even though it was wrapped up in a bandage. She lightly tugged at the bandage. Hey, maybe she didn't need it at all? I mean, it's not like she had a concussion. Since Romano had left the room to get her some lunch, she thought that it would be the perfect time…I mean, she felt fine, right?

"Albania!" Romano said, entering the room, holding a plate of pasta. He closed the door with his foot. "I brought you some pasta for – what are you doing?"

"My head feels better, Romano," Albania said with an exasperated sigh. "I'm taking this bandage off."

"Hey!" Romano shouted, "Y-you can't do that!"

"I can if I want to!" Albania stuck out her tongue, then started to unwrap the bandage from her head. "I'm not bleeding, from what I can tell."

"But you had a bad fall!" Romano said. "You should keep it on!"

"I'm fine!" Albania said.

"No!" Romano tried grabbing her hand, but Albania was quick to block him.

"Romano! I'm fine!"

"No you're not! You're keeping that bandage on, missy!"

"Don't 'missy' me, you bastard!"

"Oh, that's it!"

"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do? Throw pasta at me?"

"I hate you so much!"

"Right back at you!"

They wrestled for a while, with Romano trying to retie the bandage and Albania trying to untie the bandage while trying to defend herself from Romano.

"Damnit!" Romano cursed. "Just – gah – give me the bandage!"

"N-No!" Albania said. "I will _not _– ow, you're on my hair – I will _not _be giving you any bandage!"

Albania fell backwards onto the bed, still trying to untie her bandage. "Ah!"

Romano climbed onto the bed, rather unaware of the awkward situation he was creating. "Just tie up the stupid bandage! It won't kill you, for god's sake!"

"No, damn you! Get off!"

Romano grabbed her hands, pinning them to the bed.

He felt his face grow warm realizing he was on top of her.

"A…I…Uh…" Romano tried to form words, but ended up mostly reciting vowel sounds.

"Romano…what are you doing?" Albania said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh. Oh, sorry," he said, trying to make himself move, only to be frozen to the spot.

"Romano. Get off," Albania said.

"…Uh-huh." Romano nodded. But his body just wouldn't cooperate.

"Romano. _Please _get off."

"…Mm-hmm."

"Romano…"

"Albania, I…"

"Romano, this is getting ridiculous."

"No, Albania, I need to-"

"Romano!"

"No, no, Albania, I-"

"Oh, for god's sake!"

Albania, finally having enough with it, bit one of his arms holding her hands down.

"Auuhgh! What the hell, woman?"

"You were starting to creep me out!"

"Oh, come on!"

Albania tried to sit up, but still found herself pinned beneath an angry Romano. "Romano, get off!"

Romano saw his arm bleeding just a tiny bit. "Oh. Oh, _now _you've done it, woman!" Romano said, pinning her down again, this time laying violent kisses on her neck.

"Whoah!" Albania said, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You're pissing me off _so _much right now!" he said between kisses.

"Then what's with the kisses?"

"You're so thick!"

"Oh, _I'm _thick now?"

"Yes! I am _so _in love with you, yet you have the goddamn _nerve _to piss me off like this!"

Romano bit down on her neck, gently enough so as not to hurt her, but hard enough to make Albania let out a small yelp.

"Ah! Romano!"

Romano pulled away from her, then looked her in the eyes. Her deep, beautiful eyes. Her eyes that were as green as emeralds. Emerald orbs, staring into his light amber eyes.

"I love you."

He wrapped her in his arms when suddenly-

"_Ser católico__, __Romano__!" _Aurora hit him with a newspaper.

"_No!__Mi dispiace__! __Per favore, non__mi ha colpito__! __Per favore__! __Ow__!"_ Romano said as Aurora repeatedly hit him. _"Mi dispiaceee!"_

Albania sighed. What a life.

_*****And there we have it! I do hope you enjoyed it! I thought it would be a cute little Valentine's Day pressie, so I hope you liked it! **_

_**Read RGaffney's fics! Go on! **_

_**Until we meet again in the next chapter, young Padawan!*****_


	3. Chapter 3

_*****Hello everybody!**_

_**I'm sorry it's taken so long; I had a bit of writer's block and started a new story, 'Jumala Minua Auttakoon!' Go read that! ^w^**_

_**Anyway, I've had writer's block for some reason, but I'm now going again with 'Why Does This Always Happen to Me?' I hope you enjoy! ^u^**_

_**I do not own Hetalia. Not at all. =3 *****_

Albania could _not _get to sleep.

She stared at the ceiling, trying to think of things to get her to sleep. Counting sheep certainly didn't help. Thinking of soft ocean waves made her think of her home. That definitely kept her up. She tried some deep breathing techniques. No help whatsoever. She tried cigarettes she brought from home to relax her. Which brought her pattern of thought back to her home. Which, in turn, kept her up. She tried stretches. Nope. Getting up and reading? No books in the room. Writing letters? No paper. Besides, who would she write to? Her brother, perhaps? No. He probably didn't even want to talk to her anymore, after she had chosen to go to Italy with Romano to be, well, his servant. Damn. Now just thinking of her brother kept her up.

She was in the small guest bedroom Romano had let her rest in while her head was recovering. The man known as Spain apparently only came over to bring Aurora, his right-hand woman, to help Albania. Poor Romano didn't even know how to care for Albania. Since the day before they were fighting over whether she should wear the bandage around her head or not, Aurora said her head was fine and she could go to bed without it. Thank God.

But, even with the luxury of not wearing the bandage, she still just couldn't get to sleep.

She fidgeted with her pink pajamas, tugging on the hem of the shirt. Of all the colors, why pink? Romano said it was the only set of pajamas for girls that had pants that he owned. She didn't like to wear nightgowns. They made her feel all…exposed. But, of course, she had to get pink pajamas. One of her least favorite colors.

Suddenly, she heard her stomach give a low growl in hunger. She gave a sigh of relief, knowing she could finally escape the small room without looking suspicious for just walking around the halls, trying to wear herself out. Now she had a good excuse.

She threw the sheets off of herself, bolting for the doorway, looking for some freedom from the utter boredom and restlessness of the long night and, of course, some food. She threw open the door only to remind herself that everyone was sleeping. Or, mostly everyone.

…

Romano sat up, violently waking himself from his dream. He looked around, rubbing his eyes, trying to remember what he had just dreamed about.

Damnit! He had dreamt about Albania again!

He stood up, walking around his large room, pacing the wooden floor. He was at such a loss as to what to do! He slammed his fist against the wall in his frustration, only to quickly pull it away, hoping no one noticed. He held his breath, listening to any signs of a person who he might have woken up. He let out a relieved sigh after a while, seeing as no one had woken up.

He went and sat on his bed, thinking of what to do. Surely, after the dream, he wouldn't get to sleep because he would be thinking about her.

He decided to go downstairs for some comfort food. That would help him not think of her, right? After all, he would be in peace and quiet, with no one down in the kitchen. There was no one in the kitchen, right?

…

Albania crept down the stairs, taking in the enormity of his house. His house was just…huge! Since she had grown up in the relatively poor country of Albania, a house this size was just…amazing! She walked down the enormous when she suddenly realized…

…She didn't know where the kitchen was.

She felt a sudden panic clutch at her chest, being afraid of getting lost in this large house.

_Calm down, _Albania thought to herself. _It's just a…very…very large house. You'll be fine! There are people here, right? _

Albania felt herself getting more and more panicked. She felt her pace pick up.

_There's no one in this house who could hurt you. It's not…that dark, right? _

_That's right. It's not really that dark…there's moonlight coming through the windows…everything will be just fine._

Albania's foot felt cold tile as she found herself in the kitchen. The very big kitchen.

"Whoah."

The kitchen was huge with wrap-around counters and cabinets. There was a large counter in the middle with many drawers on the sides.

It was _big._

It took Albania a while to find the refrigerator. When Albania found it, she found an almost endless supply of tomatoes, pasta and pizza.

She grabbed a tomato, taking a bite out of the sweet, tangy vegetable. Or was it a fruit? I mean, it has seeds, so…

Albania shrugged it off, taking another bite. Oh, the sweet, sweet taste of beloved tomatoes.

Romano froze as he reached the kitchen. He saw a figure standing there. But it seemed almost somewhat recognizable.

Of course. It was Albania.

Romano crept into the kitchen, trying not to scare her, but trying not to run up to her. He lightly tapped her shoulder.

"What the hell?" Albania shouted, whipping around. "Don't touch me or I'll kick your ass so hard you'll wear it as a hat!"

Albania proceeded to throw the rest of the tomato at Romano.

"Agh!" Romano said, wiping tomato off of him. "The hell, woman?"

Albania's expression softened when she saw Romano. "Ah. It's you." She turned back to the fridge, but whipped back around to face him. "Wait a second! What the hell are you doing here? If you've come to take advantage of me I'm prepared this time, you low bastard!"

"Shut up!" Romano whispered harshly. "Someone might hear us!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, someone might wake up and I don'twant anyone getting the wrong idea!" Romano said, trying to pick the tomato seeds out of his clothing. "I'm _not _going to take advantage of you!"

Albania held up another tomato in defense. "Are you sure?"

"How can I not be sure if I was going to take advantage-" Romano flinched as Albania raised the hand with the tomato in it. "Yes, yes, I'm sure, I'm sure, okay?"

Albania lowered her hand and took a bite out of the tomato. "Alright. I'm letting you go this time. But don't do that again!"

"Yes, yes, okay!" Romano said. "I'll never – wait, aren't _I _your boss?"

Albania crossed her arms. "That may be true, but _I'm _not a sissy like _you _are."

"Hey!" Romano said. "Shut your face, you little-"

"Shh!" Albania warned mockingly. "Someone might hear us."

Romano growled. "Fine. What are you down here for?"

Albania sighed. "I got hungry."

"That's it?"

"Yes. I was just hungry. How about you?"

"I…I was just hungry too."

"Is that all?"

Romano blushed. "Yes."

"Are you _sure?_"

"Yes! I'm v-very sure."

Albania raised an eyebrow like she so often did. "What are you not telling me?"

Romano let out a frustrated sigh. "I…I was dreaming, a-and then I woke up, and I didn't know what else to do…"

Albania smirked. "What were you dreaming of?"

Romano blushed. "N-nothing."

"What were you dreaming of, Romano?"

"…You."

Albania put her hands on her hips. "Me?"

"Y-yes. You."

Albania's face softened. "Really?"

Romano felt himself smile, just a little. "Yeah. You were beautiful."

"'Were?'" Albania raised an eyebrow.

"_Are_. You _are _beautiful. But I mean, in the _dream, _you were beautiful as well."

Albania gave a small laugh, feeling a small blush rise on her cheeks. "Thanks."

Romano suddenly, but softly, cupped her head in his hands and gave her a long kiss. He pulled away and kissed her nose. He gave a chuckle as she blushed even more. "You're adorable when you blush, you know that?"

"Oh, please." Albania sighed, throwing out the remains of her finished tomato, then turning away and grabbing another tomato. "You're just sucking up to me now."

"N-no! I mean it!" Romano said, his face turning red. "Damnit, how come I can never be romantic without you saying something like that?"

Albania felt her hands fumble – just a little – with the tomato. "Well, I've never really been one for romantic things, I suppose…"

Romano leaned down to kiss her again. Albania pulled away. "I-I suppose we should, uh, go to bed…"

Romano sighed. "I suppose so…"

He then suddenly grabbed her hand, going out of the kitchen, down the hall, up the stairs and into his room.

"What the he-" Albania started. Her words were cut off by Romano's lips. His fingers grabbed and tangled in her hair, roughly pulling her lips closer to his. One of his hands broke away from her hair to close the door behind him. His fingers frantically returned to her, rubbing her back up and down, creating a warm friction. Albania's hands grabbed his shoulders, her nails digging in to him as his lips trailed down to meet her neck. He bit down a few times on her neck, finally earning a soft moan from her as he bit down on a soft spot.

"Romano…please…" Albania breathed, her words barely escaping her lips.

"Albania…I love you…God, I love you…" Romano said, gathering Albania up in his arms, laying passionate kisses on her lips.

"Romano, I-ah!" Albania let out a small cry and a _thud_ as she fell backwards onto the floor.

"Oh my God, are you ok?" Romano said, kneeling to her side.

Her pajama top had unbuttoned the top button from the fall, letting one side of the top go slightly past her shoulder.

Romano blinked as he saw her tattoo.

It was a double-headed eagle, the eagle on the flag of Albania.

"You…you have a tattoo?" Romano said, rubbing his eyes. It was so rare to see a tattoo outside of sailors and riffraff, much less on a woman!

"Yeah. What about it?" Albania said, buttoning up her top.

"It's…it's a tattoo," Romano said, grabbing her hand and pulling her off of the floor. "You have a tattoo."

"Oh, get over it," Albania said, sitting on Romano's bed. "It's just ink."

"When did you get it?" Romano said, so confused by this woman.

"A few years ago," Albania replied. "It was to celebrate my becoming a General. A few other men were getting tattoos, so I figured 'why not?'"

"…My God, you have a tattoo," Romano said.

Romano thought all of this over. She'd never accept the fact she was a woman. Why? "God, why are you like this?"

"Like what?" Albania said, inching back on the bed as Romano came closer to her.

"You always defy men," Romano started. _Why can't she ever listen to anyone? _"You're headstrong, not a proper lady at all." _I could _never _take her shopping. _"Hell, you're a _General!_" _Why can't she ever say how she feels? _"You're always so independent." _Why can't she just let go?_ "You'd _never _rely on a man, oh no. You'd just clear your own path, make your own way!" _I can't even treat her like a woman! _"You just ignore other women!" _She never takes care of herself like a woman should! _ "You'd never wear makeup, you'd never get dressed up, you'd _never _wear a dress, period!"

"I did _so _get dressed up," Albania retorted. "When you came to bring me to Italy, I was wearing a skirt!"

"But that's _all _you've ever done!" Romano said, grabbing her shoulders. "Why can't you be a woman for once?"

Albania felt tears well up in her eyes. "Please, stop-"

"What? What the hell is wrong with you? Why, _why _can't I love you?""

"I've _told _you!" Albania exploded, tears filling her eyes. "I was walking to my house! I thought it would be ok! It wasn't _that _dark out! I was aware of my surroundings and everything! There were streetlamps, cars, people! Did anyone notice? No! He pulled me into a dark alley! I didn't even _see _him! No one knows where he went! He just took off after he had raped me!"

Romano fell silent. "Albania…"

Albania stared at the ground for a moment. "Maybe I'm just not used to love yet."

Romano's eyes glazed over. "Albania…God…"

"Romano, I-I'm sorry," Albania said. "I didn't mean to-"

Romano grabbed her hand suddenly and firmly. "I know that happened to you. I will never, _ever _let that happen to you again!"

Albania stared at him. Romano's face softened as he wiped a tear away from her eye. "I can show you what love is like. _Real _love. Not this fake, stupid crap. Albania…"

"…I love you."

Romano gently kissed her before she could say anything. He wrapped his arms around her delicate waist.

Never had Albania felt so feminine.

There was so much more to her story than what happened. She was planning on becoming a sworn virgin. She would live a life of celibacy. However, in Albania, when you did that, you would take on the role of a man in society. You would go to jobs, and wear pants and even a wristwatch! That was her dream.

But someone had to take that away.

He took not only something very precious to her, but the rest of her future as well.

She vowed she would never be weak again and joined the army – something rather rare for a woman – but proved her worth. She made it all the way to General.

But how could she feel so feminine now? After all the things she'd been through, why did she just melt like putty in this man's strong arms? After the pain, the loss, working her way up the military ladder until she was at the _top, _why did she feel this way?

She thought she had become immune. Immune to love.

Nope.

"Mm…Romano…" Albania said.

"Shh. I'll treat you like a _real _man should."

He brought his lips to hers again, running his fingers through her hair. It felt so good to love her; it felt so good to hold her in his arms. It felt like his heart had been freed somehow. He felt like he could fly, like he could reach up and touch the moon. His arms tightly wrapped around, holding her in his warm embrace. Albania felt so good, like she had never felt before. He kissed up to her ear, down to her neck, back to her lips, wanting to love all of her. Why did that man treat her so badly? He wanted to kill that stupid jerk. He wanted to love Albania as much as he possibly could and then some. His lips passionately pressed against hers, moving them with hers in perfect sync.

Romano threw back the covers on his bed, quickly getting under them, pulling Albania with him, then putting them back on until they were both covered in the safety of the blanket. His lips trailed down to her neck again, nibbling a little here and there.

"Mm! Ah, Romano!" Albania said, caught up in the passion of the moment.

"Albania…I love you…oh God, I love you!"

"Ah! I-I love you too!"

"_Aaaaaughhhhhh!"_

Albania's eyes flew open, shocked by the sudden noise.

However, what had made that noise was _not _Romano.

"Oh good Lord, mi tomate!" Spain said, covering his hands with his eyes. "Get a room!"

"We're _in _a room, you bastard!" Romano shouted, throwing a nearby book at him. "Get out! _Out!_"

"I'm sorry! Ow!" Spain said, shielding himself with the door to avoid a boot that had been thrown as well. "I just heard noises in here and I thought maybe something was wrong," Spain said, then flashed a smile. "I guess not, eh, lucky boy?"

"_Get out!"_

"I'm going, I'm going!" Spain said, laughing. "Bye, lucky boy~!"

Romano growled something in Italian as Spain shut the door.

"So…" Albania said. "Should I go or something?"

"No!" Romano said, quickly turning back to Albania. "Don't leave!"

"Ok, ok!" Albania said, "I'll stay!"

Romano grabbed her by her waist, gently wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to his chest. "Maybe…you could stay here for the night?"

"In what way?" Albania said, raising an eyebrow.

"J-just to cuddle with, damnit!" Romano said, a blush rising on his face.

Albania smiled, then snuggled into his chest. "Sure. I think I'd like that."

Romano gave a happy sigh. "That's good. I'd like that too."

Romano stroked her hair. "Goodnight, _mia bella ragazza._"

Albania snuggled closer. "Goodnight, _djali im__i bukur._"

The two peacefully fell asleep together, snuggling and cuddling, and they both didn't want it any other way.

_*****Yay! I hope you enjoyed this! A new chapter will be coming, really!**_

_**Until next time, read RGaffney's fics and my new fic too! Don't forget to review! Bye! ^w^*****_


	4. Chapter 4

_*****Hello!  
>New chapter! It's really long….<br>I have a deviantART account! Yay! It has Albania fanart! Here's the link: www. superawesomedia. deviantart. com (remove the spaces from the .s, for some reason it doesn't want to put up the link...)  
>There's a small description of her in my Scrapbook. Please do look there ^w^<br>I don't own Hetalia. Noooope.  
>Enjoy the chapter!***<br>**_

Albania woke up with Romano's arms around her, her face buried in his chest.

"Good morning, _bella,_" Romano smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

Albania gave a rather unladylike yawn, rubbing her eyes. "Mm-hmm. Did you?"

"I slept fine with you next to me," Romano said, stroking Albania's hair. "I slept wonderfully."

"That's good," Albania said, snuggling into him.

"Mm, I wish I could stay here forever with you, in this eternal bliss of cuddling," Romano said, holding Albania closer to his chest.

"I do too – wait a second, how did I get here?"

"Let's see…kitchen, tomatoes, kissing, bedroom, kissing, Spain, sleeping."

"Ah. Wait, bedroom?"

"Don't worry, nothing intense."

"Ah. Good."

Albania sat up and stretched, giving another yawn. She looked over at Romano, who had the cutest case of bedhead. "I…guess we should get up," Albania said, shaking her head, trying to remove the sleepiness of the morning. "Yeah."

Romano grabbed her by her waist, pulling her back onto the bed, giving her a few kisses. "Aw, but I like cuddling with you!"

Albania laughed, trying to get up. "Romano, we have to get up!"

"Oh, come here!"

"Mm, Romano!"

"Ah, _bella! Ti amo!_"

"Romano, we _need _to get up! We have stuff to do!"

"Oh, five more minutes, please?"

"Romano!"

"Ahem."

The two cuddling lovers looked up to see a maid in the doorway. "Ms. Karpusi? We have to get you fitted today."

"Ah, _si, _Giovanna. We'll be right down," Romano said, giving her a nod. _"Grazie."_

The maid gave a polite nod as well, closing the door.

"Fitted?" Albania said, turning to Romano, her brows furrowed.

"For your dress," Romano grinned.

"Dress?" Albania said, sitting up. "What dress? For what?"

"Your new uniform," Romano said with a small shrug.

"Uniform? What kind of uniform has a dress?"

"You didn't hear?" Romano asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Hear what?" Albania asked.

"You're my new maid."

…

"There is _no _way I'm wearing this," Albania growled at her new 'uniform'.

She pulled down on the short skirt, trying to make it longer somehow.

She was in a big room on a small platform, with a huge closet in the back of the room and a large mirror next to the platform. Only she and Romano were in the room.

Oh, and a group of Italian maids who worked in Romano's house.

"You look great," Romano said, wrapping the apron around her and tying it in the back.

"This is _way _too short!" Albania said, tugging down on the skirt more.

"Please, _bella, _don't tug on it, it'll rip."

The rest of the maids in the room giggled as Romano adjusted Albania's dress.

"Why is this dress so tiny?" Albania asked, crossing her arms.

"It's the only dress we have here on hand. We have to order you a new one since this one doesn't fit very well. It's a little short in the skirt area…"

The maids giggled some more, pointing and saying things in Italian.

"Could they leave the room?" Albania asked, aggravation rising in her voice.

"Not yet," Romano said, smoothing her apron out.

"Why not?"

"They pick out the shoes, stockings, accessories, stuff like that."

One of the maids came over with a pair of sheer stockings. Romano nodded and grabbed them. _"Grazie, Isabela."_

He turned to Albania. "Leg."

"What?" Albania said, pulling her skirt down as Romano knelt down.

"Give me your leg," Romano said, looking up at her.

"Why?" she said, pulling her leg back.

Romano rolled his eyes. "I'm just going to put this on you," he said, holding out one of the stockings.

"I can do that myself," Albania snapped, reaching out for the stocking.

"You probably don't know how to put that on right!" Romano said, trying not to let his temper get the best of him.

"I do so!" Albania said. "Just give me that!"

Romano finally let out an exasperated sigh, grabbing her leg.

Albania let out a small cry as Romano's hands started to go up her leg, putting on the stocking.

The maids tittered some more, their giggles getting louder and louder as Romano put on the stocking.

"_Si prega di essere tranquillo, sto cercando di concentrarsi, ragazze," _Romano said, turning to the girls. When he turned back to Albania, Albania noticed his face was just a little red.

Romano finally pulled the stocking up to her thigh, making both of them blush.

"Romano, I really can get this myself," Albania said, trying to avoid eye contact with Romano.

"Please, let me," Romano said, grabbing another stocking.

The maids snickered again as Romano pulled on the other stocking.

One of the maids rushed over with a small band with two small suspenders on the band in her hand.

"Ah, almost forgot. _Grazie, Mia,_"Romano said, taking the small belt.

Without hesitation, he slipped the band up Albania's legs, resting it at her waist, attaching the suspenders to Albania's stockings.

The girls chortled and made comments in Italian as Romano adjusted the garter belt at Albania's waist.

"Why are they laughing so much?" Albania said, looking at the maids.

"They think I'm some kind of a pervert because I'm doing this," Romano said, smoothing out Albania's skirt. "They…they think I'm into you."

"And you're not?" Albania asked.

"Well…" Romano trailed off as he grabbed some shoes. "I haven't actually told anyone except Spain and my _fratello_."

"Nobody else knows?" Albania shouted.

"For a long time, I was always kind of a flirt," Romano said. "When I fell for you…well…I just didn't know what to say."

"Romano, you need to tell them!"

"How? How am I going to tell them that I really, _really _love someone? They'd never believe me!"

Romano lightly grabbed her foot, slipping a high-heeled shoe on her. "There."

"Romano, I-"

"Ah, here's the other shoe."

"No, Romano, I don't-"

"There. That looks great."

Romano topped it off with a small, white headpiece. "I like it," Romano said. "Girls? What do you think?"

The girls smiled and said some things in Italian to Romano. They went back and forth, exchanging thoughts and comments. Romano turned back to Albania, a grin on his face. "They like it."

"Romano, I don't know how to-"

Romano stepped back, rubbing his chin. "I like it a lot. Turn."

Albania awkwardly gave a turn, holding down her skirt. "Are you sure this looks ok?"

"It looks great. Come over here, the apron needs a bit of adjusting…"

Albania stepped off of the small platform, her legs wobbling. She took another step and promptly fell over.

"Romano, I don't know how to walk in heels!"

The maids chortled as they ran over to help her up. She blushed as the maids laughed and talked amongst themselves while they helped her fix her dress. Romano walked over to her, his brow furrowed.

"You don't know how to walk in heels?" Romano asked, looking at her feet, then at her face. "They're not even that tall…"

"No! I've never worn heels in my life!" Albania said, starting to take off the heels. "I'll just wear my boots."

"Are you kidding?" Romano said. "You can't wear those! They'll look terrible!"

"Well, I can't wear the heels anyway!" Albania said.

"Fine. Then you'll learn," Romano said. _"Ragazze!" _

The girls huddled around Romano, waiting for his instructions.

Romano said something in Italian to the group of maids. He turned to Albania. "They'll teach you how to walk in heels, ok?"

"Romano, I don't want to-"

"_Andiamo, ragazze!" _

The girls rushed over to Albania, putting the shoes back on her, saying things in Italian and trying to teach her to walk by taking a few steps or trying to speak to her. Albania tried walking, but ended up wobbling and falling again and again, not understanding their language and overall just being confused.

Romano sighed, going over to the group of cheery maids and the rather befuddled Albanian. "Here. Let me handle this. _Ragazze,__mi prenderò__cura di questo__. __Grazie._"

Romano went over to the large closet and pulled out another pair of high heels. His face turned red as he took off his shoes and slipped on the heels.

The maids let out snickers and guffaws as Romano walked over to Albania. He waved the girls away as he stood next to Albania, who raised an eyebrow at the odd sight of Romano in heels.

"Romano, what the hell are you doing?" Albania asked.

"I'm helping you walk in heels," he said, his ears turning pink. "Obviously you don't know how."

"Since when did you know how to walk in heels?" Albania asked, crossing her arms.

"Since I designed them!" Romano said. "I happen to think they're very stylish."

Albania blinked. "You…design shoes?"

"Among other things. You know, shirts, pants, skirts, dresses. Stuff like that," Romano said with a shrug. "If I make shoes, I'd want to know if they're comfortable." He paused. "B-but it's not like I wear the dresses and the skirts or anything!"

Albania snorted. "Now that would be interesting…"

Romano growled. "Let's just get on with this, shall we?"

He extended his foot, putting down only his heel. "Now do as I do."

Albania grumbled but nodded, putting her heel down.

"Now put your toes down."

Albania did so.

"There. Now try taking a step."

Albania did the same with her other foot, her knees wobbling.

"There. You're doing great. Now take some more steps."

Albania took another step, her knees trembling more and more and her confidence wavering more and more with each step she took. She finally took another step before she fell down again.

Romano rushed to scoop her up, holding her in his arms. The maids giggled more as his face became red and he stood up, offering Albania his hand. "Come on. Let's try it again."

Albania sighed. "Fine."

They tried over and over, Romano demonstrating in his black heels, Albania trying to follow his example, but in the end just falling over again. "Romano, this isn't working!"

"I know. We can try again-"

"It's no use," Albania said. "I'll just wear my boots. I'll never be able to wear these! "

Romano opened his mouth to argue, but heard the shrill voice of another Italian. "_Fratello__! _We have a meeting today~!"

"Damn," Romano growled. "Italy! Give me a few more minutes!"

"We have to go now!" Italy said, entering the room. "Germany is really angry!"

"What does the potato bastard want?" Romano snapped.

"Oh, stop that, _fratello. _You know he doesn't like being called that," Italy said, pouting. "He's really concerned for everyone. He says because his boss invaded Poland and you invaded Albania – hi Albania – and that France declared war on Germany that the whole world is going into war!"

"No duh!" Romano said. "So why are we having a meeting?"

"Well, we're basically going to have a world meeting about who's gonna be on who's side and who's gonna stay neutral.

"Ah. Sounds fun," Romano said, rolling his eyes.

"Romano, this is serious!" Italy said. "We have to go!"

"Alright, alright," Romano said. "Albania, you'll stay here. I have a list for you to-"

"She's coming too!" Italy said.

"No she's not," Romano said. "She hasn't even met half of these countries; you can't expect to just throw her into a meeting like this!"

"Romano," Italy said, his voice flat sounding. "When I say the whole world is going to war, I mean the _whole _world."

Romano's eyes widened. "You don't mean…"

Italy nodded. "_Fratello, _they think this is going to be a Second World War."

"Then Albania's not coming," Romano said, putting on his jacket.

"She _has_ to, _fratello! _It's required!"

"No it's not! I don't want her..."

"Don't want what, _fratello__?_"

"I-I don't want to lose a maid, that's all," Romano snapped. "Albania, stay here."

"No!" Albania said. "I'm coming with!"

"Oh, no you're not," Romano said. "You're staying here."

"I'm coming with you whether you like it or not!" Albania said.

"Look, Albania, you're such a tiny country! In a big World War, what would you do?"

Albania shot him daggers with her eyes. "I still have my _besa._"

…

Albania straightened the pantsuit. "There. Now let's go."

"You couldn't have worn a skirt?" Romano asked. "Just this once?"

"I've worn a skirt twice now; once on the boat and now that I'm your so-called 'maid'. So, in short, no."

"Please? Just this once?" Romano pleaded. "You have to make a good impression on these people!"

"Oh, I'll make an impression alright," Albania said.

"Albania, _please _don't hit anyone or yell at them."

"Well, there's no guarantee for that, now is there?"

"_Albania!"_

"Alright, alright, I'll try my best. But there's no guarantee."

"Fine. Let's go."

Romano looked over his shoulder before he left. "Please, take good care of the house, girls! _Ciao!_"

The maids waved their happy good-byes as Romano shut the door.

"_Fratello__! _My Fiat is running again! Let's go~!" Italy called out from his car, joyfully beeping the horn.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Would you shut that car up?" Romano yelled back.

"Ve~!" Italy grinned as they both got in the car, shutting the doors. "You look very nice, Romano's girlfriend~"

"I-I'm not his girlfriend!" Albania stammered angrily. "I'm just his…maid."

"Yeah!" Romano said. "She's just a maid! She in _no _way at _all _likes me _whatsoever! _A-and I feel the same!"

Italy gave a light-hearted laugh. "Oh, puppy love~ Isn't it wonderful~?"

"_Fratello, _shut up!" Romano yelled.

"And they caaaaalled it puppy loooooove~!" Italy sang.

"Shut your face, bastard!" Romano shouted. "If you don't start driving I'm going to come up there, grab the wheel and do this myself!"

"Alright, alright," Italy giggled. "We're off~!"

"Perhaps off of our rocker," Romano mumbled.

"What was that~?" Italy smiled.

"Nothing! Shut up and drive!"

…

"Everyone, meet Albania."

Albania fidgeted as all of the eyes seated at a large table in the room turned their focus towards her.

"You're late," a tall man with slicked-back blonde hair and blue eyes commented. "Next time you bring a new country, Romano, try to be on time."

"Shut up, potato bastard!" Romano shouted. "I can come whenever I like!"

There was a row of a few people that gave her glares. "Good day, Miss…Albania," a man spoke. He had blonde hair and green eyes…

…and _really _bushy eyebrows.

"U-uh-huh," Albania muttered.

"As you can see, we're in a bit of a tiff," the man said. He had a British accent.

"Yeah. I see," Albania said, turning towards the other side of the round table, seeing the tall, blonde-haired man, Italy, Romano and a small Asian-looking man with black hair and brown eyes that seemed to stare off into an unknown distance sit down.

"As you may know – or maybe you don't – we're preparing for a war."

"Of course I know that!" Albania said. "What, do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"Well, you never can tell with these poorer countries-" he said, taking a sip of his tea before she grabbed his shirt.

"What did you say?" Albania shouted.

"Albania, no!" Romano yelled from the table. "Sit down!"

"Oh my, it seems you spilled my tea," the Englishman remarked. "I hope you didn't get any on you."

"You son of a b-"

Romano jumped up, rushing to the other side of the table, grabbing Albania her by her waist, pulling her away from the Englishman. "Albania! Stop it! This isn't a good idea!"

"That sick bastard! Who does he think he is?"

"Albania, that's the United Kingdom you're talking to!" Romano said.

"I don't care if he's the Queen of England, he doesn't get to say that!"

A younger-looking man with sandy-blonde hair, blue eyes and a strange lock of hair sticking up from the rest gave a snort. "Ha! Queen of England! Pfft!"

"Would you shut up, America?" Britain said.

"Haah! You're a queen! Haha!" the young country of America laughed.

"Please, let's try to welcome our…_guest,_" Britain said, casting a glare at Albania.

Albania turned to put a fist to his face when she heard a voice behind her. "Hi, sis."

"Greece!" she said, whipping around. She held out her arms for a hug. "Oh God!"

"Sis," he said, his expression serious. Of course, how serious could his expression get? "I don't think we'll be on the same side."

"What are you talking about?" Albania said. "The hell?"

Greece's eyes shifted. "Since you were taken over, I've been holding a bit of a grudge against that Italian."

"But-"

"We'll talk about it later," he murmured. "Go ahead and sit down, ok?"

She sat down with a grumble. "Fine."

The meeting was rather uneventful, mostly people 'officially' choosing sides. Apparently, many of them already had allies, but they were just making it official. She, the tall blonde man apparently named Germany, Italy, Romano and the small Asian man named Japan were all on the same side. Britain, another blonde man named France, a very tall man named Russia and another Asian-looking man with a long ponytail named China were all on the same side. America said he would think about it.

"Pfft! I don't need to be in your European wars!" America said. "Maybe when it gets interesting I'll drop on in."

The rest of the meeting was people mostly shaking hands, saying their fond hellos or bitter goodbyes and having private talks. There were so many countries there! She flinched as a man with short blonde hair and green eyes with a gun over his back patted her shoulder. "Good luck; try not to get too involved," he said.

"Mm-hmm," she said, smiling weakly.

She saw Romano shaking hands with another man. She gave a sigh, wondering how long this would take.

Wait a second…

"Oh God…"

_I was walking to my house! I thought it would be ok! It wasn't that dark out! I was aware of my surroundings and everything! There were streetlamps, cars, people! Did anyone notice? No! He pulled me into a dark alley! I didn't even see him! No one knows where he went! He just took off after he had…_

"You son of a b-"

_*****^w^ I write such happy endings!  
>I hope you enjoyed! I usually don't write chapters this long ^.^;<br>Please do check out my deviantART account! There's Albania fanart!  
>Don't forget to review and see what's new with RGaffney!<strong>_

_**Until then, I'll see you in the next chapter – or on deviantART!*****_


	5. Chapter 5

_*****Hey guys! =D  
>I've had many people say that Albania and Greece are not siblings. I was going to go into detail about this in another chapter, but I may as well do it now. =)<strong>_

_**Greece and Albania are **__**adopted**__** siblings. I did this because Himaruya Hidekaz, the creator of Hetalia,**_ _**stated in a character bio for Greece:**_ _**"Albania finds Greece to be very stylish and is always crowding his home, while Greece dislikes this country and wishes that it would leave." I thought of her as an annoying little sister. They're not very close siblings; they actually tend to fight a lot. =3**_

_**Warning: Adult content (references to rape).  
>I don't own Hetalia. =)<br>Well, without further ado, here is chapter 5! =D*****_

"You son of a bitch!" Albania yelled. "You bastard!"

The man with the small white mask on his face who was talking to Romano turned to Albania.

"A-Albania?"

"Yes, yes it's me, you low bastard!"

She went up to him and ripped the mask off of his face. "Turkey. I never thought it would have been you. I recognized that voice now. I never made that connection before. It was lilted with alcohol." There was a sudden fire in her eyes. "You little-"

Romano rushed over to her. "Albania, please! I think you've had enough of this. Why don't we go home now?"

"No!" Albania snapped. "This is a _whole _different matter!"

Romano hurriedly grabbed her arm. "Come on, I think you're just tired. You've had a long day here! Let's go home now."

"No, Romano, you don't understand-"

"Yes, yes I do! Let's go home!"

Albania broke away from his grip. _"No! He raped me!"_

Everyone grew quiet. The eyes in the room which had been socializing with each other turned to Albania. Greece's jaw clenched. Italy's eyes grew wide. Japan nearly fainted.

"…I-I'm sorry. I have to go," Albania said, pushing people out of her way to get out of the room, to get out of the door, to leave the large conference building and out onto the sidewalk, to run away as fast and as far as she could, to wipe her eyes streaming with tears with her sleeve, to finally hide behind a tree, putting her back to the trunk and burying her face in her hands. She let her salty, bitter tears wash over her face, tasting the sweet sadness of the tears that fell on her lips.

It was a good 20 minutes or so before the small Asian man found Albania sitting on the ground crying her eyes out after some of the countries ran off to find her. "Ah, Albania-san?"

Albania's head snapped up to meet the soft gaze of Japan's brown eyes. "What?"

Japan gave a warm smile, or as much of a smile as the anti-social hermit could muster. "May I sit with you?"

Albania gave a slow nod as Japan sat next to her. "We were looking for you. I wanted to make sure you weren't hurt."

"Why would you care?" Albania said through harsh tears. "It's not a big deal."

"I care a lot," Japan said. "And it is a big deal. If you ran away this far crying, I would think it's a big deal."

Albania gave a small smile. He was nice; she didn't feel threatened by his presence. Her smile quickly turned to a scowl. "Why would you care about me? People say I'm just stupid and poor and mean anyway."

"I don't think you're mean," Japan said. "Just misunderstood."

Albania wiped some of her tears away. "Yeah, right. I know they all think I'm crazy."

Japan gave a small laugh. "I don't think you're crazy. Underneath that anger of yours, I'm sure you're just a sweet girl who's trying to figure out life."

Albania gave a sniff. "You really think so?"

"Of course I think so," Japan said. "Life can be very hard after abuse like that happens."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Albania muttered.

"I'm terribly sorry," Japan said. "Many people make fun of this subject, but I don't think it's funny at all."

Albania held her knees to her chest. "Yeah. Same."

Japan gave a sigh. "It's a terrible thing; why anyone would do that, I don't know…"

They both sat in silence for a while before Japan heard Albania's small sobs from her tears. "My God…The man in that room raped me…"

Japan felt his heart sink at the sight of the softly sobbing girl. "It must be so hard for you…I'm so sorry…so, so sorry…I would say that it's ok, but how would I know?"

He awkwardly patted her shoulder. "There, there…"

Albania let out a wail and clutched onto his shirt, burying her face in his chest, letting her tears flow. "How could I be so stupid?"

"You weren't being stupid. You never know when something like this will happen. I'm so sorry."

"Four years ago!" Albania said. "It was four years ago. I was 17, for God's sake! Turkey…it was him…he was angry that I wanted to become a sworn virgin…it all makes sense now…I dated him for a while, but when I told him I wanted to become a sworn virgin to take the place of a man in the community, he got angry…he…he was drunk…he was so angry with me he…he took it… he took it away so I wouldn't be a virgin anymore so I could keep dating him! But he left! He decided it wasn't worth it! Why? Why? _Why?_"

She cried into his chest, her tears leaving marks on his shirt. He gave an awkward smile and patted her back. After a while, he let himself relax and put his arms around her. _Poor thing…why would anyone hurt someone like her? She's so pretty, she didn't need to go through that-_

_Where did that come from, Japan? Stop that! Don't think of her like that! She's Romano's girl!_

_She's Romano's girl…She's Romano's…_

A few minutes went by before Albania was able to stop her tears and life her face from Japan's chest. "T-thanks. I n-needed that."

"It's alright," Japan said. "I may not be the most socially adequate, but I'll always be here for you if you need a shoulder to cry on."

She gave a relieved sigh. "Thank you…thank you so much."

"Japan!" A loud, deep voice called out. "Did you find her?"

"Oh, _hai, _Germany-san," Japan said, standing up, taking Albania's hand and pulling her to her feet. "She's right here."

"Where the hell were you?" Germany barked at Albania.

"Now, now," Japan said. "She just needed to clear her head." He pulled out a bag of seeds from his pocket. "I was feeding the birds with her."

Japan gave a glance at Albania. Between that small gaze, there was an unspoken promise that they would both never speak of this conversation again.

"I see," Germany said. "That's fine."

Germany turned to Albania. "You scared us! Please be more careful the next time you run out like that!"

"F-fine," Albania said. "I was just a little shaken, that's all."

"Just let her be, Germany-san," Japan said. "She'll be fine."

"Alright. Come on, you two. Let's get Albania back to her boyfriend," Germany said.

"He's _not _my boyfriend," Albania hotly pointed out as they began walking back to the building.

"_Ja, ja," _Germany said. "It's not like he doesn't talk about you _all _the time."

"What?" Albania said.

"He's _always _going on about how silly you are, how annoying you are, how you make him so frustrated." Germany paused. "It means he likes you."

"W-what?" Albania stuttered.

"It means he _likes _you, _dummkopf!_" Germany said.

"Alright, alright! I get your message, loudmouth!" Albania said.

"Who are you calling 'loudmouth', little girl?"

"'Little Girl'? Oh, you're going to get it from me!"

"Fine! I'd like to see you try!"

"Ooh, you little.."

_*****Yay! I hope you enjoyed this! ^w^**_

_**Don't forget to review and read RGaffney's fics! Thank you!**_

_**Until we meet again! ^.~*****_


	6. Chapter 6

_*****I'm such a dolt! I completely forgot to put this in my last chapter! ^/^  
>I wanted to thank CartoonFan135 for supporting me on deviantART! That was so nice! Thank you! ^u^<br>If you're interested in seeing some Albania fanart by me, please check out SuperAwesomeDia on deviantART!  
>I'm sorry it's been a really long while, I've been pretty busy with school…my whole life is a LOT busier, in fact! But I'll still write when I can! ^o^<br>I don't own Hetalia. ^w^  
>Please do enjoy!***<strong>_

It was an awkward car ride home with Romano.

Although the skies were clear and blue, for the both of them it felt like the world would spin into a tornado.

"So…" Romano said. He shifted in his seat as he was driving. "I heard Japan found you."

"…Yeah." Albania looked out the window, trying to avoid his eyes.

"…Apparently you were…feeding birds?"

"…Yeah."

"I never knew you were into that sort of thing-"

"It's not a big deal, okay?" Albania snapped. "I just needed some fresh air. Japan _happened_ to be there."

There was a long, awkward pause. The silence made the air heavy, constricted and all around uncomfortable.

"…I'm sorry," Romano said.

"Sorry about what?" Albania asked.

"About what happened to you. What happened with Turkey."

Albania sat in silence.

"…It's a really terrible thing-"

"Look, I don't need to be lectured, ok? I already know what happened, I went through it! It's not like you were stuck in a dark alley all by yourself where no one could hear your screams! It's not like anyone cared!"

"Albania, please-"

"It's not like you were the one who was r-"

"_Albania!" _Romano shouted. "Please, don't!"

Albania stared out the window. "…Whatever."

Romano suddenly slammed on the brake. "Damnit!"

"What? What's wrong?" Albania asked.

"Get out."

"What?"

"Get out of the car!"

Albania furiously got out of the car, slamming her door and standing akimbo.

"You're always like this!" Romano shouted as he got out of the car, slamming his door as well.

"Like what?"

"You always start something, but you never finish it!"

"Why? What did _I _start?"

"Sometimes you make me _so _mad!"

"Like _you _don't make me mad too!"

"I just don't know what to do with you sometimes!"

"_Screw you!"_

"_Oh yeah? Well, screw you too!"_

"_I don't have to take this!"_

"_Neither do I!"_

"_I hate you __**so **__much!"_

Romano put his hands on her shoulders. _"Goddamnit, I love you!"_

He roughly grabbed her face with his hands and gave her a hard kiss.

She struggled to get out of his firm grasp, but found herself lost in the kiss.

"Mm…Romano…"

His kiss became softer and his hands went to her waist. She wrapped her arms around his back.

Romano tried to deepen their kiss, only to trip over his own feet and send the two of them tumbling down into the small ditch by the roadside, scaring away birds, butterflies, bees and other small animals.

"Ow!" Albania said, rubbing her head. "What was that for?"

"I didn't mean it!" Romano said. "I just sort of, you know, tripped."

"Yeah right!" Albania spat. "You were _planning _that! Planning to push me down here until I fell to my death or something!"

"Would you stop?" Romano said. "God, why can't you just enjoy yourself?"

Albania paused at those words. "W-well…I've had a rough life, ok?"

"It doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself any less!" Romano said. "Come on, Albania. Can I just love you? For once? Can I at least hold you in my arms, can I just make you coffee in the morning, can I just love you?"

Albania turned away, a blush on her face. "…Maybe."

Romano's face turned into a grin. "Really? You mean it?"

"I said 'maybe'," Albania said. "…But I do mean it."

Romano suddenly grabbed her by her waist. She gave a yelp as he laughed and his lips met hers. He was so in love with her, and it felt like total bliss to be with her.

Albania would never admit it, but she felt the same.

Romano gave her a passionate and happy kiss. Albania started off awkward, but she soon found her way around and the two continued their passionate kiss.

They both smiled and laughed (an unusual thing for the both of them) as they kissed and hugged each other. It was truly bliss.

Bliss, that is, until the car horn went off.

"Hey! You mind movin' your car outta the way, lovebirds?" America shouted from his car. Romano had left his car in the middle of the street, making America's driving just a bit more difficult.

"Oh shit," Romano said as he climbed up the ditch.

America honked his horn again. "Come on! Hurry up!"

"Alright, alright!" Romano said. "Give me a moment!"

Romano gave an exasperated sigh. He went and opened up Albania's car door. "Sorry, hon. I-I mean, Albania."

Albania raised an eyebrow, but gave a smile. "Thank you…hon."

Romano closed her car door and went to the other side to open his door.

"I'm sorry we had to be…cut short," Romano said.

"It's fine," Albania laughed. "I've just never been so…so…_happy _in my life."

Romano smiled as he closed his door. "That's wonderful."

America honked his horn a few more times. "Come on, let's go, people!"

Romano gave an annoyed growl. "Fine! I'm going, I'm going!"

Albania let out a snort at his aggravation.

"Come on. Let's get out of here," Romano said. He paused to turn and smile at Albania. "I love you."

"Yeah, yeah," Albania smiled. "Whatever."

_*****I DID IT! *collapses to knees***_

_**I'm sorry I took so loooong! OTL Please forgive me!  
>I hope you enjoyed it! It's a little short, but I still hope you liked it!<br>PLEASE, PLEASE, **__**PLEASE **__**review. I hate to sound desperate, but I just want to make sure fans like it enough so I can continue writing. I just hope it's worth it!**_

_**Until next time, read RGaffney's fics and I'll see you soon!*****_


	7. Chapter 7

_*****Hello again! Sorry for the delay, I've been very busy lately! ^w^  
>Long(er) chapter! Yay!<br>**_

_**Oh, and I have an IDEA. WOW. I'm thinking of making an Ask Albania tumblr blog! I think it would be really fun! However, I want to know if you think it's a good idea! Please let me know in the reviews!**_

_**I don't own Hetalia**__**. **__**However, Albania owns YOU.*****_

Romano gave a happy sigh as he opened the door and was greeted by his many maids. "I'm home, girls!"

The girls giggled and smiled as they took his coat and put it away. They all turned to Albania and started to drag her away.

"What are they doing?" Albania said.

"Oh," Romano said. "You have to get back in your dress."

"My maid uniform?" Albania asked.

"Yeah," Romano nodded. "You're making dinner tonight."

"What?" Albania shouted. "No way!"

"There won't be _that _many people!" Romano said. "Just me, my _fratello, _Germany and that Japan guy."

"Romano, I can't-" Albania started, but was pushed up the stairs by the maids.

"You'll be fine!" Romano said. "Just go get your dress on."

"There is _no_ way I'm putting that dress on!"

…

Albania shuffled her feet and tugged at her skirt. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" she muttered under her breath.

She snapped her head up as the doorbell rang.

"Albania, could you please get that!" Romano called as he came down the stairs in a nice white dress shirt, crisp black pants and polished shoes.

"No!" Albania called back.

"Oh, come on, woman!"

"I said _no!_"

He gave an exasperated sigh and opened the door. "Hello. Won't you come in?" he said with a smile.

"_Danke," _the tall German said as he stepped inside.

"_Ciao, fratello__!" _Italy smiled.

"_Arigatou gozaimasu. __Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," _the smaller Japanese man said as he gave a polite bow.

Germany looked Albania up and down. He raised an eyebrow.

"I knew Romano made you his little servant, but I didn't think he'd go _this_ far…" he mused.

Albania tried to pull her skirt down just a little. "What do you mean, '_this_ far'?"

"You know…making you dress like this," he said.

"Like what?" she said.

"Like a maid," Germany smirked. "It just seems so…_suggestive._"

"Oh yeah?" Albania spat.

"Yeah," he said. "It makes you seem so weak and…_submissive._"

"Oh really?" Albania shouted. "Fine then! We'll fight it out like men and see just who the submissive one is!"

There was a long, awkward pause as everyone in the room stared at her, including Romano.

"…I would never hit a lady," Germany smiled.

"I'm not a lady," she growled. "I'm a _General._"

"Fine then. _General_." He gave a low chuckle. "If anything, it would be impolite to fight right here."

Albania looked around at everyone in the room.

"You're just afraid I'd get your blood on the carpet," she muttered.

"What was that?" Germany asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" she smiled. "I should go make dinner."

"Right!" Romano said. "You go make dinner. We're having _tortellini alla panna_."

"I knew that, stupid!" Albania said. "I'll take care of this." She smirked and stuck her tongue out at Germany as she went into the kitchen.

Germany leaned over to Romano. "She's feisty," he winked. "You must like that."

"Shut up, you potato bastard!"

…

Albania was prepared for making dinner. _So _prepared.

She went over to a cabinet and pulled out a box of tortellini. _I can __so__ do this, _she thought to herself.

She looked at the recipe book Romano had laid out for her. "Let's see…unsalted butter…"

She ran over to the refrigerator and pulled out the butter.

She gave a frown. "We only have the salty kind…oh well." She shrugged and set it on the table.

"1 onion, finely chopped," she said as she looked at the recipe book.

She grabbed an onion from the pantry, setting that down on the table as well.

"Sliced mushrooms."

She grabbed some mushrooms as well.

"Lemon juice."

She grabbed the lemonade.

"Heavy cream."

She went to the refrigerator and grabbed some whipped cream.

"Frozen peas."

She grabbed the string beans.

"Parmesan cheese."

She grabbed some slices of Swiss.

"Port wine."

She took a swig of it and set that on the counter.

"Alright!" she smiled. "I'm pretty good at this…although I had to improvise because Romano didn't get enough stuff from the store…"

She looked at the cookbook, but frowned as she read the directions.

"This looks hard…" she pouted. _What does all this mean? 'Non-stick skillet'? 'Simmer'? _

She tossed the book over her shoulder and grabbed a large pot. _I'm good at making things up, right? I can do this!"_

She cooked the tortellini in a smaller pot, then dumped all of the other ingredients into another pot, put it on the stove and turned the heat to 'high'.

"I'll just let it sit for 45 minutes. It'll be nice and warm by then."

…

Romano drummed his fingers on the table and rested his chin on his hand as the rest of the nations at the table talked on about politics and natural disasters.

"Albania! You almost done in there?" he called out. "We're waiting for the food!"

"Just hold on a minute!" Albania called back. "I'm almost finished…"

"Maybe you should go check on her~" Italy said.

"Ha!" Romano said. "It's not like she would let me help her!"

"I'm coming right out!" Albania said.

She dumped the tortellini in the large pot of mixed ingredients. She took a large wooden spoon and, well, _tried _to stir it.

The ingredients had become hard and crusty in the last 45 minutes. She set it on the table and used all of her strength to make it budge. No such luck.

"Albaniaaa!" Romano called.

She went into the dining room with the large pot and the spoon, still trying to mix the ingredients with the pasta. "I'm-gah-I'm almost done!"

At that moment, she was able to scrape some of the hardened mixture off the side of the pot, allowing it to fly across the room, landing squarely on Japan's face.

He knocked over his glass of water, spilling it on Italy's lap.

Italy shrieked and jumped across the table, trying to grab on to Germany.

Germany grabbed the tablecloth as he fell backwards in his chair, bringing said tablecloth with him until plates, glasses and a very nice little vase with poppies in it shattered on the ground.

"…Oops." Albania gave a nervous smile to Romano.

"Albania, what did you cook?" Romano said, frustration and just a hint of anger in his voice.

"_Tortellini alla panna?"_ Albania said.

"Albania!" Romano said, "why didn't you just-"

Romano stopped as he heard Italy giggling.

"_Fratello, _stop laughing," Romano said.

"I can't help it!" Italy smiled. "We all just look so funny!"

"What do you mean?" Romano asked.

"Look; Japan has stuff on his face, I have water all over me, and Germany's on the floor!"

It was all true; they all looked pretty silly. Japan wiped some of the crusty tortellini off of his face. Italy giggled as Germany got up from the floor, brushing poppies and bits of plate off of his nice shirt.

Albania couldn't help but giggle herself.

"Albania, it's not funny!" Romano said, trying to hold back a smile.

"Oh, yes it is!" Albania laughed. "It's hilarious!"

Japan couldn't help but laugh too. Germany joined in with low chuckles.

Romano finally laughed. They all laughed. It was almost kind of…_fun._

Oddly enough, they were having fun.

…

In the end, Japan made instant ramen for everyone. They still had a good time, cracking jokes and laughing from their hearts. Heck, even Romano couldn't help but smile.

They were all quite sad when it was time for the Axis to leave. They all said their goodbyes.

The house was very quiet as only Romano and Albania were left standing by the door.

"So…" Albania trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Yeah…" Romano did the same.

Albania fiddled with her skirt. "I, uh, guess we better head to bed."

Romano raised an eyebrow, giving a sly smile. "In what way?"

"Oh, stop that!" Albania said, laughing again. "To _sleep, _stupid."

"I could think of better things to do…" Romano said, creeping closer to Albania with a smile on his face.

"No!" Albania laughed and ran up the stairs, Romano chasing after her.

"Come here, woman!" Romano said as he chased her, laughing as well.

"Ah!" Albania gasped as Romano caught her at the top of the stairs, grabbing her tightly by her waist, laying kisses all over her face and neck.

"Ah! Stop! That tickles!" Albania said, a laughing, squirming mess in Romano's arms.

"No!" Romano replied overdramatically, speaking in between kisses. "I shall never let you go! You will be mine! _Forever!_"

Albania gave a squeak as he bit down on her ear. "Romano!"

Romano gave a laugh, continuing to kiss her.

"Ahem."

They both turned to see a maid standing by the steps.

"Oh, shit. Sorry," Romano said, letting go of Albania. "Um, right. Giovanna, turn all the lights off downstairs. _Grazie._"

"_Si," _Giovanna replied as she went down the stairs.

"…Right," Albania said. "We really should get to bed."

Romano gave a quiet chuckle. "Alright. Sleep good, _bella._"

He gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah," Albania said with a smile. "Goodnight, bastard."

_*****Yay**____**! It's finished!  
>I might not be writing in a while, I have finals coming up, so you'll see me in mid-June-ish. We'll see…<br>So, please review and tell me if you'd like to see an Ask Albania! Don't forget to check out RGaffney's fics as well!  
>I'll see you in the next chapter!***<strong>_


	8. Chapter 8

_*****Holy shmooker-frookers you guys. It's been waaaaaaaay too long. I have been so crazy up-the-wall-and-down-the-other with moving. Yeah, I'm moving. But it's still been to long.  
>I've also had writer's block. SERIOUSLY. But it's getting better. Hopefully I can recover enough to give you guys another chapter soon…<br>I've ALSO been busy with my Ask Albania, which has been going really well! Please go check it out on deviantART! You can just search in dev "Ask Albania" and it's the black and white photos by 'x-Ask-Albania-x'. Maybe you could check it out and ask a question**__**? ^w^  
>I don't own Hetalia. God, I wish I did.***<strong>_

"Good morning, _bella._"

Albania blinked as she saw Romano's face smiling down at her.

"I brought you breakfast," Romano said.

Albania shuffled the blankets around until she could sit up. "Wow…thanks."

He had made her a big plate of pasta with little tomatoes on top of it.

"What's this for?" Albania asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, since I know you tried to make dinner yesterday and it didn't, uh, go so well, I thought maybe I'd make you something for breakfast," Romano said.

"You didn't have to do this," Albania said, a small smile on her lips.

"I know I didn't _have _to," Romano said. "I just wanted to."

He leaned down and gave her a small peck on the lips. "Now, eat up before it gets cold!"

Albania tried to suppress a smile. Even though she might say she hated his guts, she couldn't help but give a small smile when Romano did something nice for her.

"Romanooooooooooooooo!"

Romano quickly turned around as a shaking, only-in-his-green-white-and-red-Italian-flag-striped-boxers Italy jumped onto the bed. "There'sbadnewsthere'sbadnewsthere'sbadnews!"

"What the hell is it, _idiota?_" Romano spat.

"Well, remember that teensy-weensy little war that's going on between Germany and France and England?" Italy said.

"Yeah? So?" Romano said, obviously uninterested.

"Well, I kinda-sorta-maybe-just-a-little-bit told Germany that maybe-kinda-sorta-just-a-little-bit we'd, sort of, you know, help him and lend him our military andnowwe'regoingtobeinawar."

"What?" Romano fumed. "Why the hell didn't you say so before?"

"I'm sorry!" Italy whined. "I'm really sorry, _fratello_! But he's my bestest-best-bestiest friend in the whole wide world! I couldn't let him down like that!"

"You never told me you'd be giving him our military! Dammit!" Romano said. "Now we're in a damn _war!_"

"I'm sorry, _fratello!_ Please forgive meeeeeee!"

Romano rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Damnit. Now what are we gonna do, huh? Huh, _fratello? _What will we do?"

Italy thought for a moment. "We could fight heroically for our country and save the day for our loyal citizens!"

"No," Romano said. "That's definitely out of the question."

"We might pick up some chicks on the way~"

"True. Maybe fighting's not so bad-" Romano started before receiving a smack on the head from Albania.

"You guys!" Albania said. "Why can't you both just man up?"

She looked at the two men. Romano rubbed the newly formed bump on his head, cursing and sniffling. Italy looked up at Albania, tears bubbling up in his eyes.

"No, don't cry, you pansy-" Albania said, only to have Italy burst into tears.

"I'm not man enouuuuuuugh!" Italy cried.

"Agh, don't cry, _fratello!" _Romano said. "See what you did, Albania? God, you always have to do this, don't you!"

"For God's sake, you two act like children!" Albania shouted, only fueling tears from Italy and angry words from Romano.

"I'm not man enough! Why aren't I man enouuuuugh?"

"Albania, you bitch! Look at what you did! Now he won't go down for his nap at 2:00!"

"What _I _did? How about what _you _did! You always swear in front of him, of _course _he'd cry! You're such a bad influence!"

"_I wanna be a maaaaaaaaaaan!"_

"Shut up, _fratello! _Albania, when he's done with this little episode we are _so _gonna have a talk-"

"Talk? About what? About how terrible you are? Huh? Is that what you wanna talk about?"

"You little-"

"Everyone shut up!"

The two Italians and one Albanian turned to see Germany standing in the doorway to Albania's room.

"G-Germany~?" Italy smiled. "C-Ciao~"

"What is going on here?" Germany asked.

"W-we were just talking about you~" Italy sniffled.

"…Hm. I was concerned something happened as I could hear yelling and crying from all the way outside," Germany said.

"It was all Romano's fault," Albania muttered.

"What was that?" Romano said, angrily charging at Albania. "Oh, you take that back _right now!_"

"Stop!" Germany said, placing a hand on both of their heads so they wouldn't attack each other. "Seriously, you guys. You shouldn't be fighting when you're both part of the Axis."

They both paused from their fighting.

"...I'm gonna kill you in your sleep, you bastard!"

"Oh yeah? Come at me!"

They both tried to claw past Germany's hands, trying to tackle each other.

"_There will be none of this!" _Germany shouted. "There are more important matters at hand to discuss!"

Romano and Albania calmed down, although there were still angry glares.

"As you know, Italy, since you are now involved in this war, you will be needing to set up a fort. I don't care where, just put it up and get prepared, alright?" Germany turned to Romano. "Same goes for you. You'll be needing to help your brother."

"What?" Romano said. "That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard-"

"No questions!" Germany said. "You got yourself into this mess, now you will have to get yourself out of it!"

"_I _got myself into this mess? How about my brother, he's the one who's so damn attached to your potato-ass-"

"_Fratello! _Don't say such things~! He's a really nice guy~!"

"Whatever! I still don't like his stupid face!"

"God, Romano, you _always _have to be like this!"

"Albania, this doesn't concern you-"

"_Fratello! _You should never talk to a lady like that-"

"She's hardly what you'd call a _lady-_"

"Romano!"

"_Fratello!_"

They bickered amongst themselves, leaving Germany to massage his temples in hopes his aching headache caused by the three of them would go away sometime this decade.

He just hoped they wouldn't be like this for the rest of the war...

_*****Yay! I hope you enjoyed. I hope it's not too short of a chapter, I just really didn't want to write a filler, I wanted to introduce the freakin' war already!  
>Hopefully you'll review and tell me if you still are interested in it and just what you thought of this chapter~! Thank you!<br>Don't forget to read and review RGaffney's fics too~!**_

_**I'll see you peeps soon! Catch ya later!*****_


	9. Chapter 9

_*****Hey everybody! **_

_**I missed everyone so much!**_

_**I've been AMAZINGLY busy lately, and I've had the WORST writer's block.**_

_**EVER.**_

_**Anyways, I recently found my creative spark once more and, although this was a rather difficult chapter to write, I hope my creative juices will flow more and I can update more! Yay!**_

_**I know this was a short chapter, but I wanted to let you all know that I am NOT dead and will continue to write!**_

_**I hope you enjoy!**_

_**I do not own Hetalia. Unfortunately…**_

_**However I do own the OC of Albania. ^w^ *****_

"Today, we'll be discussing Axis plans and introducing some of our members to each other," Germany said, setting down a stack of papers on the conference table. "I'll start off with introductions; my name is Ludwig Beilschmidt and I represent the country of Germany. Please call me Germany when discussing business matters."

"_Ciao__!_ I'm Feliciano Vargas, here to represent the country of Italy! Or at least the  
>Northern part of it~"<p>

"_Konnichiwa. _My name is Kiku Honda. I represent the country of Japan. I prefer to refrain from speaking and sense the mood."

"_Buna ziua!_ My name's Vasilica Lupei, but call me Romania!"

Albania shuddered as he flashed a toothy – or, rather, fangy – grin.

"_Moi, moi, _everybody! I'm Tino Väinoämöinen, or the country of Finland! I hope I get to know you all better!"

"_Salve! _I'm Maria Innocenti, also known as the country of San Marino!"

Italy blushed as the pretty, blonde-haired nation introduced herself.

"Don't space out now, Italy; we have a meeting to get through, _ja?_" Germany whispered, shaking Italy's shoulder.

"Hm? Oh, right~" Italy said, trying to stop himself from staring. "Meeting. Gotcha."

"_Szia! _My name is Elizabeta Héderváry. I'm the country of Hungary!"

Albania was surprised with this person; she didn't expect to see another woman country who was a military woman. Not that it bothered her; if anything, she was glad there was another woman around here. Maybe this war wouldn't go so bad after all…

"_Sa'benerica._ The name's Lovino Vargas. Unfortunately, I'm the brother of this little crap, Feliciano. I represent the Southern part of Italy."

The countries all took their turns introducing each other around the conference table full of countries that were helping the Axis.

_Wow, _Albania thought, _I didn't know so many countries were involved in this…_

She turned when she heard a loud voice at the end of the conference table, near Germany. "Hey! Don't I get an intro, West?!"

"Fine, but don't make so much noise-"

A chair clattered and fell as a lanky man with silver-white hair and surprisingly red eyes stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "I'm the awesome Prussia! Although right now I'm part of lil' Deutschy over here," Prussia said, patting Germany's shoulder. "He's my lil' bro! Isn't he just so cute! Kesesesesese!"

"_Bruder, _sit down!" Germany said, picking up the fallen chair. "We're at a meeting, not a party!"

"Aw, but you should always party like it's your last day-heuaugh!"

Prussia fell backwards from the impact of the frying pan that made contact with his face.

"Prussia, for once could you be serious?" Hungary said. "Just a little?"

_Since when did people throw frying pans at each other during meetings?! _Albania thought, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone for fear she would need to be formally introduced. And, seeing as the last meeting she went to didn't go all that well, she figured she would just sit back and maybe not open her mouth for a while.

She didn't really want to be a part of any of this; although it wasn't her fault that she had to be captured and suddenly become a maid-country to a certain tomato-loving Italian.

"Hey, what's with the girly over there?" Prussia said, eyeing Albania. "Hey! Girly! What's your name?!"

"W-what?!" Albania said, rather startled. "W-who, me?"

"Yeah, you! What's your name, _Shätzchen?"_

"M-myname'sArdiana."

"What was that?" Prussia said, coming around the table to pull a chair next to Albania. "C'mon, don't be shy!"

"My name…is Ardiana. Ardiana Karpusi."

"Hey, you're related to that cat-lover person, am I right?" Prussia asked. "That Greece guy!"

"Yeah, I'm his sister," Albania said. "Not that that really matters to me…Anyways, I'm the country of Albania."

"Nice to meet ya, Alb! Can I call you Alb?" Prussia asked, extending his long arm for a handshake.

"No." Albania said, taking his hand.

"Alb it is then!" Prussia smiled, vigorously shaking her hand like his life depended on it. "I hope we meet up sometime soon!"

She saw a sudden change in his eyes, something that didn't seem like his fiery, bright attitude, but something deeper, something more flirtatious, spicy, inviting.

"I do hope to see more of you…"

He stood up, the change in his eyes gone, a wide grin across his face. "So, _Bruder, _what's first in this meeting?"

_..._

_S__crew this, _Albania thought as she threw her jacket on a chair in the kitchen.

"Hey, hang your jackets up, Albania!" Romano said angrily as he grabbed her jacket, placing it on his coat rack.

He sat down at the kitchen table, throwing his jacket over his chair.

It was a three-hour long meeting that Albania hated. All the meeting was about were big countries talking about other big countries that Albania didn't really care about.

To say the truth, it was just plain boring.

She sighed and rubbed her shoulders as she sat down at the table. "God, my neck is so sore…"

"What were you doing with it during the meeting?" Romano chuckled. "Here, turn around."

Romano scooted his chair closer to Albania, rubbing her shoulders. Albania usually would have argued with him that it hurt and that she didn't like it, but she was too tired to argue, and, honestly, it felt great.

"I'm sorry the meeting was so long," Romano said.

"It's not really your fault," Albania replied.

"I know…I just hate to see you tired. It's not a pretty sight," Romano said.

"Shut up, bastard," Albania smiled.

There was a long silence before anything was said.

"…Hey Albania?"

"What?"

"I've been thinking…"

"About?"

"Well, we've kind of been, y'know, doing things together that maybe, uhm, other people don't do together."

"Like?"

"Like, for instance, we've, uh, hugged."

"And?"

"And kissed."

"…And?"

"And, well, I think…" Romano closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I think maybe we should make it official."

Albania turned around to face Romano. "Official?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should…start dating."

Albania didn't say anything. She just stared at the Italian who was asking her to…date him.

"Think about it. You don't have to give me an answer now…just think about it."

He held her face in his hands. "Just know that I'm asking you to be my girlfriend."

He leaned his, his lips lightly making contact with hers. He pulled away just as soon as he leaned in, much to Albania's dismay.

"Please…just think about it."

...

Later on that night, Albania laid in her bed, wide awake and…

…Thinking.

_He wants me to be his…girlfriend? _She thought.

She was still amazed and awe-struck that he had asked her. She hadn't had a boyfriend since…Turkey.

She had avoided all love relationships since then, as that experience ended on a rather low note.

But she knew Romano wasn't like Turkey.

She knew that she felt something when she was around Romano. She didn't like to admit it, but she could feel her face heat up when he was around her. She could feel her heart beat faster and she knew that she wanted to be held in his arms.

She hated herself for it.

But maybe she really did like him.

Maybe she loved him.

_Why does this always happen to me…_

_*****That's all, folks!**_

_**Be sure to check out my Ask account for Albania on deviantART under the name x-Ask-Albania-x and look out for more fanart on my regular deviantART account, SuperAwesomeDia!**_

_**Remember also to read RGaffney's fics!**_

_**Bye for now!*****_


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